10 Highly Effective Habits To Create a Distraction Free Environment When Working

“Success is actually a short race—a sprint fuelled by discipline just long enough for habit to kick in and take over.” ― Gary Keller, The ONE Thing

As the festive season comes to an end and we enter February, there’s always a different energy in the air. It’s time to get things done!

You may have some important projects your working towards but finding it hard to get back into the swing of things. I know things have certainly picked up at TMV head quarters and lately we caught ourselves reacting instead of being proactive.

When things start getting out of our control, it’s best take a step back and audit our behaviours.

In the post, we’re going to give you 10 actionable habits to help you create a distraction free environment so you can actually get things done at work.

1. Disconnect from the internet

The reality is that most of us are addicted to the internet. Particularly in this age where our devices are with us all of the time. We have access to all the content we could possibly want and this privilege creates one of the biggest obstacles when trying to knuckle down and get work done. So do yourself a favour and turn off your internet. Turn off your wifi box at the power, turn off your mobile data on your smartphone or go somewhere that is completely internet free to get work done. If you’re in an office environment or at school, close all of your applications on your computer screen that require internet and focus on working offline. Separate tasks that require internet. For example, do an hour of research online, save it your data, then go offline to complete your paper.

2. Put your television in storage

This is not as important as it used to be, as the internet has reduced our dependancy on free to air television. However, even just having the TV on in the background when you’re trying to work is an unnecessary distraction. If you catch something interesting, you will be tempted to stop your work to see what’s going on. Challenge yourself to put your television in storage for a period of time and see if you miss it. It’s one less distraction and not having it there will free up some time for you to do more meaningful activities.

3. Write down your most important tasks every morning

There’s something about writing down your tasks in the morning that creates this amazing momentum. The key here however is to only write down 1–3 tasks that are achievable for that day. Don’t overwhelm yourself with a long to do list that you won’t be able to complete. Save those items for your task manager.

4. Turn off notifications on all of your devices

Software companies are constantly competing for your attention and one of the best ways to win that battle is to get you to receive push notifications on your devices. That way you’ll never miss out on what’s happening, right? Push notifications only amplify your reactive state – encouraging you to glance, click and engage when you don’t need to and when you’re trying to work. It’s extremely difficult to not be affected by notifications. I mean, who doesn’t glance over at an email message pop up? You’re better off turning off all of your notifications and getting some control back in your workflow. You can always allocate time to check all of your different applications on your own terms.

5. Find your quiet place

This could be your favourite coffee shop, a park, or a dark room in your office building. Test a few different locations to see where you feel calmest. I find it’s good to change up your location. Sometimes I go somewhere with a waterfront view, or simply go to my favourite cafe. Either way, I always feel more productive in my spots and always wonder why I don’t go there more often! Once you find your quiet place, make sure to find time in your calendar to get there every week.

6. Remove physical clutter

Pens, paper, cords, phones, mugs, plates. These are just some of the many items you can find on a cluttered desk space. One of the first things you should do when creating a distraction free environment is to remove all clutter from your desk. The lesser the items, the lesser the mental clutter and distractions.

7. Only have one window on your computer open at a time

A clear indication of distraction, clutter and overwhelm is the amount of windows open on your computer. It’s amazing how quickly we can get lost in browser tabs, document finders and email messages. A key to productivity at work is the ability to single task. Having too many windows open makes it harder for you to find what you’re working on and also adds to your mental clutter. If you’re addressing email, close everything else and focus on just that. If you’re reading an article in your browser, close your other tabs until you have finished reading then hit the back button and move onto the next search result. Admittedly, this is an area I have to work on. I tried this technique when writing this article and it feels restrictive at first, but it works like a charm.

8. Establish an evening and morning routine

One of the most important habits for productivity is having a routine for sleep. Without adequate energy you will not be able to focus and perform at your best. Also, having an evening routine, will create time for you to execute on your morning routine and start your day with clarity and momentum. We wrote a detailed step-by-step article on how to consistently get 8 hours sleep and feel amazing everyday.

9. Clear your inbox

Ever since I came across David Allen’s getting things done methodology three years ago, I’ve been committed to clearing my inbox. He refers to this process as achieving inbox zero. It really is an empowering feeling to have cleared your entire inbox. What I found works best is to not have multiple folders under your mailbox. Most of the popular email clients (Outlook, Gmail, Apple Mail) have an archive feature. So rather than moving messages into folders, simply archive them. You can always perform a search in your inbox to find an old message. If you know for sure that you will never need a message (SPAM), delete it. When you delete an message, you will no longer be able to access it again in the future. I find that I archive about 90% of my message and delete 10%. But I don’t have any folders as I want to reduce the amount of decisions I have to make.

10. Say no

The number one habit to help you get more work done is the ability to recognise what is important and when to say no. This could mean saying no to meetings, new projects, phone calls. Don’t get caught up in trying to be a people pleaser. This is a sure-fired way to overload your commitments and get distracted from doing what’s really important. So get into the habit of assessing what tasks you’re filling your calendar with and knowing what affect saying yes might have on your current productivity.

What are your tips for creating a distraction free environment?

So there are our 10 habits for removing distractions when working. What other methods do you use to clear distractions? Leave your suggestions in the comments below.